


this town is colder now, i think it's sick of us

by sapphfics



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 07:29:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20811362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: He isn’t her villain, exactly.That’s the problem.Or: the one where Belle is a sidekick and Rumplestiltskin is a retired supervillain. Somehow, they make it work.





	this town is colder now, i think it's sick of us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clizzyhours](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clizzyhours/gifts).

He likes to think life was easier during the twenty-eight years before they got their memories back, but really, life was simpler before Emma Swan. Emma Swan brings with her yellow car a storm of chaos to Storybrooke so large and powerful that the Charmings should feel glad they sacrificed a child to save her soul because he’s almost certain if Emma were evil they would all be dead. 

At least they have their powers now. And there are heroes, again. They have the money to rebuild their destroyed buildings and less trees to use as projectile weapons and a dome to keep them from the rest of the world that will not break. 

He isn’t her villain, exactly. 

That’s the problem. 

She calls herself Beauty in their line of work. 

Beauty’s ability, though unique, means that she isn’t much use on a battlefield. This isn’t a problem for her. There are quite a few residents of Storybrooke without powers or who have powers that others might consider fairly useless, enough that they even have their own support group, and she can get by fine when she needs to. He remembers a time when she had been held at gunpoint by Hook, and she had distracted him with talk of his lost love, before whacking him in the head with a large plank of wood to get away. Hook still has a scar. 

She typically works more behind the scenes, using her knowledge and ability to absorb any information to the advantage of other heroes. Heroes like Anna and Ariel and Mulan and Ruby and, occasionally, Emma.

And none of them fight him. Not many heroes take him on directly, anyway. His days of turning evil men into snails and stepping on them are far behind him, and he only ever killed evil people — or, at least, that had been the plan. 

For the most part, Belle hardly leaves the library, and she’s always busy. Storybrooke thrives on gossip. He’s heard that she escaped from the basement of the hospital where she was being held prisoner, and sometimes he’ll notice her sitting on a bench outside the shop staring up at the sun. It’s like she’s trying to remind herself that she’s free.

He supposes Henry could call him a minor antagonist in Belle’s story at best. An annoyance, perhaps, at worst.

Captain Hook has it out for her for reasons that Rumple doesn’t understand, but it’s not an accident when he smacks the man in the face with his shop front door. He doesn’t even realise Hook is running from the police until Emma stops and cuffs him, before dragging him to the station.

Emma’s gone, but her companion is still waiting by the door.

He looks at her and thinks he must be dreaming, but his dreams are never this pleasant. 

The fact that, for some reason, she’s wearing a bright yellow ball gown and high heels whilst Emma’s in jeans doesn’t help the illusion. That’s her costume, he supposes, the way his costume was a whole bottle of body glitter and leather that took far too much time to put on. It suits her. Anything suits her. 

“Thank you, Rumplestilskin.” She says.

“You know who I am?”

“Henry showed me the book,” She explains. “You’re very...distinctive, even without the glitter thing. I’m Beauty, by the way, but most people call me Belle.” 

“Distinctive?” He’s more surprised by this semi compliment than he is at someone telling him their secret identity immediately. When was the last time anyone even willingly spoke to him? “You’re probably the first person to thank me and mean it in about...fifty years? It’s no problem.” 

“I can see why,” She looks down at her dress and must realise she has a stain on it — and he hopes it isn’t blood. “Dammit! Hook ran out of his stupid archaic bullets on his boat. He shot so many holes in it. Missed me, though. I hope it sank to the bottom of the ocean.” 

“I’m glad he missed.” Hook still has that damn boat, then. Rumple rarely goes to the harbour anymore. “I hope it sank too, honestly. I’ve never liked him. Might go sink the thing myself.” 

“Can I join you? Oh god, don’t tell Emma I said that.” Belle says. “But Hook did try and shoot me multiple times. I feel like I’m entitled to be less than polite about him.” 

“Be as mean as you want,” He says. “You should’ve heard some of the shit Emma once said about our beloved Mayor Regina. She’s in no place to judge you. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No,“ Belle insists, but she’s probably lying. Lots of heroes lie about how much pain they’re in, because there are civilians who are suffering more, and they would prefer to shut up and deal with it. “Can’t believe Emma didn’t wait up for me.” 

“Sheriff Swan is not my biggest fan either,” He says. “You don’t have to talk to me, Belle.”

“Who said I wasn’t a fan of you?” Belle says, and then laughs a little. “Besides, I’m so busy these days, I haven’t even bought furniture for my apartment and you’ve got some nice things in here.”

“I’ll give you a heroes discount.” 

He thinks she’s about to say something else, but then her phone rings and so she makes her way out. 

He watches her go. He feels proud of himself for once. He hasn’t done anything remotely heroic in so, so long. 

Her brief visit brings him a few more customers, because if a woman who sees more books than friends can stand him, then some of the other residents of Storybrooke can as well. 

-:-

That night, he falls asleep on his battered sofa and dreams of a war again. 

The Ogre Wars are things no one wants to remember, and him more than most. But it’s part of his curse to remember, to remember everything except what is most important. 

Everyone has someone that they lost to the Ogres. 

He remembers the rush of adrenaline he had gotten rescuing those hundred children from the front lines. Some of them had smiled, called him names like father or uncle or friend or angel. He felt like he had finally found his life’s purpose, that he would spend the rest of his days saving those children, and destroying all those who would seek to conscript them to die for a kingdom they couldn’t even read the name of. 

They were on their way back through the woods when the army generals retaliated. A knife to his throat was all it took for the children to claim they wanted to go back. The generals put them in chains.

“It’s alright,” The eldest one told him. “I’ll keep them safe, or I’ll die trying.” 

Rumplestiltskin was the only adult left who would even bother to try and identify their bodies. The army had taken most of them from orphanages in towns and cities that the Ogres had destroyed, and most of them had been too weak from malnourishment to even lift a weapon to defend themselves. Some of them still had their eyes open, mouths wide in terror. The smallest child was still clinging to his brother’s severed arm. Some of them were just chewed up bits of skin and bone that the Ogres spat back out. 

He had sworn off being a hero after that. A lot of people had. 

Queen Regina’s brief reign had more supporters than any would like to admit. At least she would not allow peasant children to die for her like Leopald. 

He wakes up at four am and can’t go back to sleep. He wishes he could do something productive, but he leaves the shop closed and stays in his bed all day counting ceiling tiles, trying to figure out his life before and why he can’t remember being a child. 

-:-

Granny’s is probably the only restaurant apart from The Rabbit Hole where heroes and villains can so much as breathe the same air without somehow starting a fight and levelling various buildings in the process. He likes to go there for breakfast because sometimes the supermarket never quite has enough food, and he has the   
money to pay. 

He isn’t exactly planning to run into Belle again. 

“Oh, you again!” Belle says but she’s grinning as she says it. She points to the empty chair in front of her and without really considering it, he sits down. “I know you’re a villain but you aren’t here to try and kill me or something, right? Because my schedule is fully booked today.”

She knows who he is, of course. She’s always known. He can’t remember the last time someone was happy to see him. 

“No, of course not? I was never trying to hurt you, Belle.” He says. His primary weapon of attack is a large dagger with his name on it. If he were a murderer, which he isn’t, Emma would have caught him by now. Hell, Emma’s baby brother probably could’ve figured it out. “So, how long have you been....hero-ing, Beaut-“

To his surprise, Belle grabs a fork and presses the ends into the back of his hand like this actually poses a threat to him. He’s impressed because normally the few people he talks to don’t try anything like that. But Belle was always different. She must’ve learned the fork thing from Ariel. She must recognise he must not know because she drops the fork. 

He suddenly wonders how the patrons of Granny’s must be perceiving this conversation. Not that he cares much. Really.

“Don’t say that name in here.” She whispers, then looks back over her shoulder to smile sweetly at her father. Rumple hadn’t noticed he was there. The man is across the restaurant glaring into his coffee when he catches Rumple’s eye. “My dad would disown me.”

“For what? Saving the town?”

Belle nods. 

Gods, and I thought I was a bad father, He thinks.

“He hates her.” Belle says and it's the simplest thing in the world. “Beauty, I mean. He hates women who do anything other than stay home taking care of their fathers, I guess. He’s hoping once the newspaper starts moving to the twenty-first century, some news cameras will get an upshot view of her skirt.” 

“What the fuck? Your, I mean, her skirt is floor length.” 

“I know.” 

“I’m sorry, that’s disgusting.” He says. “But does anyone else know who you are, Belle?” 

“Hmm,” Belle counts them off on her hands. Her bright blue nail polish is chipped. “Ruby and her wife, Archie, Anna, Elsa, Mulan, Aurora, but she’s retired now. That’s plenty of people.” 

“That’s barely enough people to fill a child’s football team. I mean, I can’t really talk, I suppose. There aren’t many people you can admit being well...me, shockingly.” 

“You’re not hard to miss. I figured you out,” Belle reminds him. “Soon as I walked in that shop, I knew it was you.”

“But you’re intelligent,” he says. “What’s that thing kids say these days? You have Storybrooke’s last three brain cells?” 

“Thanks. I’m sure I can spare at least one for you,” Belle considers. “Did you get that from Henry? I think he’s the only child here old enough to use the internet and also the only one who’d show you memes.” 

He shuffles in his chair. “...Maybe.”

-:-

There’s a civil war going on amongst the superheroes outside of Storybrooke, one that he surprisingly had no hand in. Emma forces all heroes to register. Tries to, at least. For the good of Storybrooke, or something. 

To his surprise, this registration is mandatory for villains alike. 

“Most of the villains here aren’t the same people they were in your world. They just want to live normal lives, and haven’t committed any crimes in twenty-eight years. But Regina told me you once beat the shit out of Moe French,” Emma reminds him. “Though to be fair, you thought he tortured your girlfriend to death so...I’d say it was pretty justified, whoever she was. It’s just in case you or someone else goes over the line, you know?” 

He can’t remember any of this, but decides not to comment. Emma doesn’t know everything. He doesn’t tell her his real name. 

“I understand your concern,” He replies. “But my father’s currently on an island somewhere pretending to be a twelve year old and is continually kidnapping children, so maybe you want to go and deal with him instead of me.” 

Emma does just that. And wins. 

He thinks about his son. He wonders if he signed up to this register, or if he’s resisting, or if he still uses his powers at all. 

He hopes August turns back to wood just so he can throw him into a fireplace and watch him burn. 

He wonders if Belle ever considers the more violent options, too. He supposes Belle could smash an opponent's head in with a copy of War and Peace like a brick if she wanted to. 

-:- 

He’s walking with her through the woods again when he feels that they are far enough away from town to ask. “So, did you tell Emma your real name?” 

“Of course not,” Belle scoffs. She’s in that coat again, the one she was wearing the second time he saw her. She takes her hands out of her pockets for emphasis. “I’ve lived in one cell or another for a lot of my life. I’m not letting this town’s shit excuse of a police force lock me up ever again, no matter what I do in the future.” 

She’s gotten angrier since the curse broke, he thinks. He’s more than okay with it. He always felt like she was restraining herself in a lot of ways, like any moment she might snap and break her stupid dad’s nose. 

Still, he’d pay to see that. Or he might just do it himself. 

“I didn’t tell them either,” He admits. “You’re officially the only one who knows.” 

“Oh, whatever shall I do with this information.” Belle teases. “The whole thing is so stupid. It’s just a name. She didn’t even ask for social security numbers or fingerprints or literally anything that’s actually traceable.” 

“I reckon it was Charming’s idea,” Rumple says. “He has a knack for stupid plans.” 

Belle looks up at the sky for a second, and they can hear a plane passing overhead. “I wonder how the rest of the world is dealing with this.” 

“You’d think there’d be a book somewhere about breaking that town boundary,” He says. 

“Yeah, you would,” Belle replies. “But someone burned them all. I’ve looked everywhere.” 

-:- 

They meet for coffee the next morning. 

Belle looks up from behind a newspaper. “What’s the story this time if Emma sees us? Kidnapping me?”

“That is more Hook’s style, if I remember correctly.”

“The Mirror Hook would resent that. He’s got a daughter, you know? She was stuck in a tower most of her life, and her fiancé has a magic bow and arrow.”

“Oh I know her,” He says. “Name’s Alice. Sweet girl, likes to dress up as a rabbit. One time her mother framed her for murder.” 

“God, our lives are weird.”

-:- 

Belle’s best friend Ruby is getting married soon. 

He’s happy for her. Ruby’s parents had sold her to a mad scientist, who had experimented on her before she escaped to her grandmother’s cottage. Her wolf shifting power works but only on a full moon, which makes being a superhero rather hard. Her villains usually work around this at her convenience. Honestly, Rumple thinks they only attack because they’re bored, and he can’t blame them. 

He’s also convinced that some of them must like her a little. He knows that they aren’t planning to attack Ruby’s wedding, but that might only be because her future wife Dorothy’s power is dropping houses on people. 

The wedding will be held at night. 

He wouldn’t risk it either.

There hasn’t been any weddings in Storybrooke for so long. Everyone’s excited, even though most of them aren’t actually invited. 

Mulan and Aurora are, though, according to Belle which surprises him. Mulan‘s power is being invulnerable to most physical attacks. This helps her in a lot of ways, especially during her stint in the military. She helped Aurora whose power was to make people fall asleep and drive them mad with dreams, but Aurora’s gone, now too. 

So many people are gone. Almost makes being a villain less fun. 

“You want to go with me?” Belle asks. 

He can’t say anything but yes.


End file.
